Two vessels - one Canadian and one Irish - carrying medical supplies and pro-Palestinian activists, set sail this week to try and break Israel's siege of Gaza.

But a stand-off in the Mediterranean between the Israeli navy and the activists eventually led to the boats being seized and their occupants detained.

The journey - a show of solidarity with the occupied strip of land - was at least the seventh unsuccessful attempt to break the siege in the past three years.

But activists say they will continue to try. Here is our exclusive report.